WTF? A Messerschmitt?

Having just received a refurb'd Oly 40-150mm yesterday, I was determined to capture me an F-16 on the way home. Cal-Guard does touch-and-go's routinely at the airfield near my job, and I had my spot picked out.

Imagine my surprise when these two planes appeared out of nowhere. These are literally the first shots taken with this lens - a good, if slightly fuzzy, beginning.

Where do you work? That U2 looks to be a trainer, may have been handed off to a university or research facility (ala JPL or equal). The Me 262 may just be a bit rarer to see in flight than a U2 ... but to see them together is pretty good (there goes your chances on winning the lotto). I know that The Planes of Fame (an air museum), keeps most of their planes in flight worthy condition. The Planes of Fame in Chino has a Me 262 ... but on the same day ... maybe it's for some cable channel ... I'd call up the public affairs person at the airport and ask them "What's up?".

I'm near Mather Field, formerly Mather AFB, east of Sacramento. The Me-262 may be the Collings Foundation's, hopefully practicing for the upcoming season. The U2's fly (flew?) out of Beale AFB, a few miles north of here. Not sure about this one.

When my son was younger, he was totally obsessed with WWII planes, so I know a bit about them by proxy. We spent a weekend in Chino, mostly at the Planes of Fame - an amazing place.

We witnessed an old timer getting a ride in a P-51 for his 80th b'day. He was grinning from ear to ear when the ride was over.

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I like Chino because the planes get flown. So when one returns to the airport for another shoot, the planes are in different positions in the hangers, which in turn, generates different lighting on the planes.

What I think is cool is seeing museum pieces, (like a Zero or a Corsair), with oil drip pans under them because they fly.

Let's hope for everybody's safety that there is not a airworthy ME163 that is permitted to fly anywhere in the world. :smile:

From the history books the Germans learned very quickly to instigate a procedure where the fuel tankers carrying the 2 different fuels were not allowed on the same tarmac area at the same time due to constant explosions.

Imagine in this day and age of safety and regulation requesting permission to fly something that had an endurance of 4 minutes, had a climb rate of more than 30,000 feet / minute, ejected it's dolly wheels once airborne, landed on a skid and had a probable chance of exploding on landing!!

Read somewhere a long time ago how the chemicals used as fuel for the 163 were so corrosive that a pilot's lower part of the body dissolved when there was a fuel leak, and he was trapped inside the cockpit! Loved reading about war related stuff as a kid, particularly about planes, ships and tanks.

Read somewhere a long time ago how the chemicals used as fuel for the 163 were so corrosive that a pilot's lower part of the body dissolved when there was a fuel leak, and he was trapped inside the cockpit! Loved reading about war related stuff as a kid, particularly about planes, ships and tanks.

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Me too! I was addicted to those Time-Life books on WW II when I was a kid (now that I think about it, I may have to do an ebay search for the series).